Suchergebnisse

THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES THE QUESTION OF HOW THE GERMAN WEHRMACHT AND WAFFEN SS WERE ABLE TO RECRUIT, TRAIN, AND SEND INTO COMBAT THOSE ETHNIC GERMANS WHO ARE REFERRED TO AS THE VOLKSDEUTSCHE. IT ILLUSTRATES THE INTEGRATION OF THE VOLKSDEUTSCHE INTO THE WEHRMACHT AND THE WAFFEN SS, AND ADVANCES THE CONCEPT THAT HITLER AND HEINRICH HIMMLER ULTIMATELY FAILED IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO CREATE A GREATER GERMANY BY INCORPORATING THE ETHNIC GERMAN COMMUNITIES OF EASTERN CENTRAL EUROPE, PRIMARILY IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA, ROMANIA, AND HUNGARY, WHERE SUBSTANTIAL GERMAN COMMUNITIES EXISTED DURING THE INTERWAR PERIOD.

ACTS OF VIOLENCE AGAINST FOREIGNERS HAVE INCREASED DRAMATICALLY SINCE 1991 IN GERMANY. THE AUTHOR UNDERLINES THE WAVE-LIKE PROCESS OF ESCALATION AND TRIES TO IDENTIFY TRIGGERING AND AMPLIFYING FACTORS (POLICE REACTION, POLITICAL DEFICITS, PUBLIC OPINION). HE ANALYSES POLICE DATA CONCERNING BIOGRAPHICAL AND SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PERPETRATORS AND DISCUSSES SOME OF THE PROMINENT SCIENTIFIC INTERPRETATIONS (DISINTEGRATION, INDIVIDUALISATION, RIGHT-WING ACTIVITIES) CONCERNING THE RECENT WAVES OF RIGHT-WING AND XENOPHOBIC VIOLENCE IN GERMANY.

THE THEMES OF FASCISIM AND NAZISM INVOLVE BITTER DISAGREEMENTS OVER THE INTELLECTURAL RATIONALE AND THE PRACTICAL PURPOSES OF SOCIOLOGY. THE AUTHOR TAKES SIDES IN THESE CONTROVERSIES WITH A FEW OBSERVATIONS OF HIS OWN BY ADDRESSING TWO EXTREME CLAIMS: THAT GERMAN SOCIOLOGY FLOURISHED UNDER THE NAZIS AND THAT AMERICAN SOCIOLOGY PROSPERED IN THE STURGGLE AGAINST NAZISM AND COMMUNISM, BOTH OF THEM SELLING OUT TO THE POWERS-THAT-BE.

SINCE THE COLLAPSE OF THE COMMUNIST (SOCIALIST UNITY PARTY OR SED) REGIME IN THE GDR, MUCH INTEREST HAS FOCUSED ON THE APPARENT ANOMALY OF THE REAPPEARANCE OF FASCISM IN WHAT HAD BEEN THE "ANTIFASCIST" GERMANY. AT THE IDEOLOGICAL LEVEL, ANALYSIS HAS CENTERED ON THE ADVERSE CONSEQUENCES OF THE REGIME'S ANTIFASCIST PROGRAMMATIC--THE PRESCRIBED OR IMPOSED ANTIFASCISM ("DER VERORDNETE ANTIFASCHISMUS") OF THE GDR. THIS ARTICLE ARGUES THAT AS NO EFFORT IS SPARED TO ERASE THE VISIBLE MEMORY OF THE GDR IT MAY BE USEFUL TO RECALL HOW CENTRAL ANTIFASCISM WAS BOTH TO THE ESTABLISHMENT AND THE LEGITIMATION OF THE SOCIALIST STATE. IT SUGGESTS THAT THE TOUGHEST WORK LIES AT THE LEVEL OF DEEP THEORY AND THAT SED FORMULATION OF FASCISM MAY NOW HAVE NOTHING TO OFFER. REPLACMEENT THEORY WILL HAVE TO ADDRESS SOURCES OF NEO-FASCISM, NOT MERELY THE PSEUDOHISTORICAL MANIFESTATIONS RE-ENACTED BY THE MORE OVERTLY HITLERITE GROUPS.

THIS ARTICLE LOOKS AT ONE ASPECT OF THE WAR CRIMES PROBLEM: ITS SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE DIMENSION. AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR GREAT BRITAIN'S SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY WAS CHARGED WITH IDENTIFYING WAR CRIMINALS AND KEEPING THEM OUT OF THE UK. THERE ARE FOUR MAJOR ASPECTS OF THIS CHARGE: THE IDENTIFICATION OF WAR CRIMINALS IN GERMANY; THE PREVENTION OF THEIR ENTRY INTO THE UK; THE QUESTION OF POST-ENTRY MONITORING AS A PREREQUISITE OF DEPORTATION WHERE PREVENTION OF ENTRY PROVED IMPOSSIBLE; AND THE CURRENT ROLE OF SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES IN COLLECTING INFORMATION WHICH MIGHT PERMIT PROSECUTION OF INDIVIDUALS IN UK COURTS. THIS ARTICLE DEMONSTRATES THAT IN A NUMBER OF RESPECTS THE SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY FAILED IN ITS DUTIES.